Plague Found in Child Camping in Yosemite National Park

In mid-July, a child from Los Angeles County became ill and was hospitalized following a family camping trip to Crane Flat Campground in Yosemite and the Stanislaus forest.

By
Jenna Lyons

Aug 7, 2015

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A child has contracted the plague after a camping trip to Yosemite National Park and Stanislaus National Forest, prompting state health officials to launch an emergency investigation and perform an environmental evaluation to determine if the bacterial disease has spread.

It is the first case of plague reported in California since 2006.

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In mid-July, the child from Los Angeles County became ill and was hospitalized following a family camping trip to Crane Flat Campground in Yosemite and the Stanislaus forest, officials said Thursday.

Tests on the child conducted by the state Public Health Laboratory came back positive for plague on Wednesday, officials said.

Laboratory officials have consulted with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and the California Department of Public Health as they search for the source of the infection, as well as review the child's travel history and activities.

The name, age and gender of the child were not released.

The plague is an infectious bacterial disease usually carried by squirrels, chipmunks, other wild rodents and fleas that inhabit their hides.

National Park Service officials were posting signs Thursday at the Crane Flat Campground and other camping areas advising visitors to take precautions, such as covering their arms and legs to reduce exposure to fleas and avoiding direct contact with rodents and their burrows.

"Although this is a rare disease, people should protect themselves from infection by avoiding any contact with wild rodents," said Dr. Karen Smith, director of the Department of Public Health and the state's health officer. "Never feed squirrels, chipmunks, or other rodents in picnic or campground areas, and never touch sick or dead rodents."

Smith also advised campers to protect their pets from fleas and keep them away from wild animals.

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"When an infected rodent becomes sick and dies, its fleas can carry the infection to other warm-blooded animals or humans," reads a statement put out Thursday by the state Department of Public Health.

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Officials urged calm, saying it is extremely unlikely the plague can be transmitted from person to person, unless the individual infected is coughing due to severe respiratory illness. They said the infected child did not exhibit such symptoms.

"There have been no known cases of human-to-human infection in California since 1924," the state health officials' statement reads.

The child is recovering at a undisclosed hospital. Others family members in the camping party did not report any symptoms.

Symptoms of human plague include fever, nausea, chills, and swollen lymph nodes in the neck, armpits or groin. Officials warned the disease can be fatal if not treated.

"Plague is a very rare disease," said Dr. Danielle Buttke, a health official for the National Park Service. "We typically have an average of seven cases in the United States every year."

On Tuesday, officials announced that an adult in Colorado had died from human plague after likely getting it from fleas. It was the second fatal case of plague in Colorado in less than three months.

In June, a 16-year-old boy died in Larimer County, Colo., from the disease, which wasn't detected until after he perished.

Officials said there has not been a case of human infection in California since three patients were diagnosed in Mono, Los Angeles, and Kern counties from 2005 to 2006. All survived after being treated with antibiotics.

In one 2006 case, a 28-year-old woman contracted the plague by handling raw meat from an infected Kern County rabbit, officials said.

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